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I’m So, So Sorry

There are a lot of things that I’m dying to write about, which only makes me more sad that I’ve spent the entire day in bed due to some insane illness and haven’t wanted to sit up, much less blog. I thought I’d take a break from my fever dreams to give you one, with some of my favorite (?) old-fashioned nightmare fuel from Disney’s past:

This clip, from 1978’s Christmas at Walt Disney World, shows that no matter how much we despair at Disney’s current state of affairs, it could be worse. Sure the specials they air today are full of fluff and nonsense, and are filmed and edited with the finesse of an MTV commercial on meth, but at least they don’t cause night terrors like this.

There’ really so much here to both confound and enrage (please enjoy the acting! of all the background players), but I’m too wiped out to know where to begin. Enjoy the footage of the Fort Wilderness Railroad, though…

And, as I say, please forgive me for inflicting this on you. It’s the fever, I swear.

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7 comments to I’m So, So Sorry

  • Can I add that I’m so very glad that I don’t remember the 1970s?

  • android.dreamer

    That was awesome!!! Disney emphasizing the androids of the park instead of the characters themselves was a real treat.
    The Disney Vacation Planner DVD is what really enraged me. It gave absolutely no information on how to plan a day at the park and instead it is a long infomercial with only emotional details and it really sickens me into not wanting to go to the parks. I do like in how in the 2009 edition, the included pamphlet doesn’t include Space Mountain at all and doesn’t even mention that it will be up and running before December.

    Anyway, hope you feel better!

  • Another Voice

    As someone who does remember the 1970s well – and has managed to live a good and productive life in spite of that – why, oh why, must you hurt us so.

    What’s really pathetic is that Shields and Yarnel (the ‘comedy’ duo in the clip) had a big hit television series during this time. And they won an Emmy too! It’s okay to pick on Disney, just remember that just about everything was pretty aweful during that period too.

    And I’ll still take street mimes in Fort Wildnerness over the Bimbo A-Go-Go and her “10 Top Things to see at WDW” video that’s disgorged into my hotel room. If I had just flown in with limited knowledge of WDW and turned on THAT drivel and the “I call it the ‘Rinse and Spin Cycle’ at Animal Kingdom”, I’d pack my bags and head to a classy joint like Earl’s Gator Rasslin’ Farm.

  • WC

    I had somehow miraculously purged this nightmare from my memory until you sadistically posted it this morning. Just because you’re suffering doesn’t mean we must as well. What’s next? A Burns and Schreiber clip? No, a Ken Berry song and dance number? Captain and Tennille floating out a lovely melody? I’ll just put in an episode of Lancelot Link and have a great day.

  • philphoggs

    Pink Lady,…. have nice day Mike.

  • François

    Well, let me give you some info that may you feel a little “better” about that clip!

    A few years before, Miss Yarnell was in a show in L.A., doing taps and singing along with (And for) some well-known Disney people …

    Victory Canteen is a musical comedy play with script by Milt Larsen and Bobby Lauher and song score by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman. The play opened on January 27, 1971 at the Ivar Theatre and ran for seven months. The show featured former Mouseketeer Sherry Alberoni, famous 1940s sensation Patty Andrews, Laureen Yarnell (of Shields and Yarnell), Beverly Sanders, and Marcia Kramer, Patty Shayne, and Brian Avery. Also in the cast was Anson Williams of Happy Days fame as was KNX Radio Entertainment Reporter Tom Hatten. The follow-spot operator was KFWB Traffic Reporter Doug Dunlap.

    Now, those TV shows were lame but there are no variety shows on TV anymore ….

    My 2 sous from France!

    And yes, I did see that show (On a personal level, I find it thrilling to get views of the Orlando Airport and parts of the WDW property the way they were) ’cause I was living in Canada then.

  • Jeepers…I’d’ve been 11 when this was broadcast and I don’t remember it at all (and I was a fan of Shields & Yarnell back then). Looks like their golf-side view was from the Treehouses instead of Fort Wilderness (though I could be mistaken).

    Oh…to be that young and whimsical again…

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